


Yourself

by gingayellow



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-07-05 16:31:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15867447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gingayellow/pseuds/gingayellow
Summary: In which OG Shiro and clone Shiro finally talk it out--whether OG Shiro wants to or not. [Shiro/Keith, post-S7]





	Yourself

Title: Yourself  
Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender  
Characters/Pairing: Shiro/Keith  
Rating: PG-13  
Disclaimer: Not mine, anything mentioned here by name isn't mine  
Warnings: None (ask to tag?)  
Notes: Post-S7 fic. I am very dissatisfied with this, but I've been dissatisfied with my writing in general lately, so maybe posting this will help with that. 

\--

As the weeks past, and people recover, reinforcements arrive, people finally have the chance to grieve those they’ve lost, and to reunite with those remaining. It’s not a surprise that aside from the minimum requirement of guards and officers, the Garrison is abandoned. The Atlas (which is currently docked), is even quieter. It is possible that Coran is still on board, but if he is, he’s quiet.

Shiro and Keith—asleep on his chest—could very well be the only living souls on the ship.

Shiro’s left hand cards through Keith’s dark hair. This… this was not a mistake. But they had both acted impulsively. Desperately. Let the intensity of the past few days affect their judgement. 

This was a mistake, but they would not do this again. 

_Why?_

Because he was a terrible boyfriend, that was why.

_Adam was the one who used your illness as leverage in an argument._

Yes, and he would never truly forgive Adam for that. But it takes two people to break up, and now, when he’s older and experienced death in ways no one should have to… he should have been there. He should have found a way to compromise.

_You only had so much time. Adam didn’t understand that, but Keith did, he still does._

“It doesn’t matter,” Shiro breathes, hand stilling in Keith’s hair. “I—the impostor tried to kill him.” How could Keith want to be with someone who—who **shared the body** of a would be murderer. 

_What do you have against me?_

… He hates nights like this. Nights when his own thoughts mesh with the evil clone. He’s not like that monster—he’s not.

_Evil clone? How much sci-fi did we watch before bed again?_

“You tried to kill Keith,” he whispers, wanting to pull Keith closer to him… but right now, with the impostor’s corrupted thoughts so close to the surface, he won’t risk it. “Because he suspected you. They all did. They would have found out.”

_You know that’s not true. I thought I was you. They thought I was you. And now we’re the same—we need each other. I don’t know why you’re so upset about this. I was just doing all the things you would have done._

Shiro is silent, closing his eyes.

_… That’s it, isn’t it. While you were nothing more than a few stray thoughts in the Black Lion, I was the one Keith saved. I was the one he was certain was the real Black Paladin._

“Shut up.”

_I helped our friends defend the universe. I got to role play with them._

“I said shut up.”

_…Keith told me that he loves me, not you._

The only reason he doesn’t bolt out of bed is that he’ll wake up Keith.

So instead, Shiro cries as quietly as he can.

_It’s okay to be upset about that, Shiro._

He’s not, he insists even as the tears falls down his face. 

_Listen. You and I… we have complicated pasts. We also hate ourselves._

“How very fitting we share a body then,” he whispers roughly to the dark room.

_But Keith doesn’t. He’s never given up on us. We share a spirit—you know that. You can feel that._

But what if he messes it up again?

… There’s always that chance. Fall into bad habits, be too stubborn for his own good. But Keith… Keith stuck by him even after Haggar corrupted him. Even when he died, and nearly died again. Keith sees something worth loving. He doesn’t always trust himself, but he trusts Keith.

And the others need Keith to be their leader, but Keith needs Shiro.

“Shiro?” Keith’s voice is rough with sleep. “You ‘kay?”

“Yeah.” Shiro sniffles. “Just processing some stuff. I guess…” Shiro almost says “I let my emotions get the better of me,” but he’s tired of being down on himself for tonight. “I guess it got intense.” That’s… incredibly true.

Keith doesn’t frown, but his eyes are serious and his hands are steady as he brushes away Shiro’s tears. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Tomorrow, yes. Tonight? I just want to sleep.”

Keith smiles. “I hear that.” The smile falters. “Um. About tonight.”

Shiro remembers what Keith told him, when things seemed like they would never get better again, giving him the courage to take a huge risk. “If you want to keep doing this, then so do I.”

Keith smiles again, and kisses him.

For so long, he’d been nothing more than a few stray thoughts, which became more and more bitter as he saw a Shiro who was still whole take his place—which had made things especially strange now that they shared a body and a soul. But in this quiet moment, they were the same. He had changed over the years, and so had Keith. But his core was still the same.

He was still Shiro, no matter what.


End file.
